The Phoenix Armada: A Star Fox Adventure
by angel.of.exodus.1981
Summary: Times are hard for team Star Fox - there's a shortage of work, and they're getting restless. On top of that, something happens to Falco on one of his solo trips that causes a troubling behavioral shift - until they get the mission that changes everything.
1. Chapter 1: Unexpected Allies

CHAPTER ONE - UNEXPECTED ALLIES

AN UNCHARTED ISLAND ON THE PLANET ZONESS

"She didn't have to do it."

Tundra Corneilison sat in the cockpit of her ship, the Arctic Wolf, listening to the steady drumming of rain on the roof above her. Angry tears were welling in her pale grey eyes; she brushed them away impatiently with one slender white paw. The young wolf had just watched her best friend walk into the depths of a wildly overgrown rainforest. Tundra was now struggling to accept the fact that the awkward conversation they'd had during the flight from the Phoenix Armada HQ to their current location was probably their last.

She was feeling more alone than she had ever felt in her life.

"She didn't have to do it," Tundra said again. "You know? There are plenty of other places in this galaxy for her to hide. Hell, she would have been perfectly safe hiding out with… I dunno, my Aunt Monica. She's got a place on Corneria with a basement, and I know she was thinking of renting it out–"

"Tundra…" Katt Monroe's voice came from the other end, interrupting her. "You know that wouldn't have been enough. It was way too dangerous for her out in the open – we all decided Zoness was the best option for her."

"But–"

"Tundra." Once again, Tundra fell silent. Katt went on: "It was what she wanted. She knew it was best not only for her safety, but for the safety of the entire _galaxy. _And I think you know that too."

Tundra racked her brain for something contrary to say. When she came up empty-handed, she instead sighed heavily, running her fingers through her shoulder-length white hair. "Yeah, I guess."

"Look," said Katt, "I know this sucks right now. I mean, she's my best friend too. But look at the big picture, okay? It's all gonna work out for the better."

"You're probably right," said Tundra. "Thanks, K. I'll make my way back there in a few minutes."

"Sounds good to me. We can watch a movie or something."

Tundra couldn't think of anything she wanted to do less than that at the moment. Her mood was such that she just wanted to go home and lay in bed for a few days, maybe weeks. But she reminded herself that Katt, along with the rest of their team, was also dealing with the loss of their most valuable member. So she humored her friend. "Yeah, that'd be great."

"Yeah?" Tundra could hear the smile in Katt's voice. "Cool!"

"Pick one out for me, alright, K? I'll be home in a few." And she hung up.

Tundra knew she should be looking at the big picture just like everyone else. She knew she should have the well-being of the rest of the galaxy in mind. She knew she should be selfless like the rest of them. But at that moment, right after watching her lifelong friend – more like a sister to her than a friend – walk away for the last time in her life, all she could think about was how much she'd miss her.

She took a final stare into the rainforest. "Take care of yourself, O'Neill," she murmured under her breath, allowing a single tear to escape her. "That's all I ask."

ONBOARD THE GREAT FOX – 3 YEARS LATER

It was nearly 2 AM now. There was nothing good on TV; it was an endless parade of noise and light and stupid, frivolous things no one really cared about. But, from where Fox was watching in the darkness, it didn't really look like Falco was watching it anyway. Although his eyes were glued to the screen, there was an emptiness to his gaze. He was looking, but he wasn't seeing anything.

It had been like this for months now – Falco had gone off by himself on one of his solo missions. "I'll be back in a couple of months," he had promised. Just like he always did. Fox and the rest of the Star Fox team had been convinced they'd be one member short for a couple of years once again. They figured he'd wander around for a few years doing God knows what and then come back in some heroic, smoke-and-mirrors gesture like he always did.

But they'd been mistaken. To their immense surprise, Falco had returned a month shy of his promised date. For about an hour or so, it had considerably raised the spirits of the team. For once, Falco had actually come back before they desperately needed his assistance. They had been so used to his long absences and returns on the brink of disaster all these years that it almost seemed to good to be true.

Within two hours of his return, they discovered that that was exactly the case.

Something had happened to Falco when he was away – Fox was convinced of it. When his friend had come back, he'd noticed the shift in his personality almost immediately. He didn't crack jokes. He wasn't impulsive. He didn't show interest in anything at all. Fox and Slippy had even gone out of their ways on several occasions to set him up for a wisecrack at their expenses; he never took the bait.

Fox had passed the point of worry a month or two ago. Falco didn't sleep, he hardly ate, and he spent most of his time sitting on the couch or in his room with the door locked. The few times he did fall asleep, usually passed out on the couch from sheer exhaustion, he'd wake up within an hour, cursing and sweating. His smiles were all forced, he rarely included himself in conversations, he'd started drinking heavily – something had triggered a dramatic alteration in his behavior. Fox wanted to figure out exactly what it was.

"You're at this again, eh?"

Fox hadn't noticed Krystal's presence beside him, and at the sound of her whisper, he started. She put a hand on his shoulder.

"C'mon. Let's go back into the bedroom."

Fox raised his eyebrows.

"Oh, not for _that. _I want to talk to you."

A little disheartened, Fox trailed her into the room they shared and shut the door behind him. She sat in a chair by the window, gazing out at the distant stars. Their reflection sparkled in her bright, sea-foam blue eyes. As he often was throughout the day, Fox was suddenly taken aback by her beauty.

She turned to him, noticed the expression on his face, and smiled bemusedly. "Are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm…" He cleared his throat loudly. "W-what is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Her expression of amusement changed immediately to one of distress. After a long pause, during which she was apparently trying to put words to the thoughts in her head, she sighed. "I'm worried about him, Fox."

Fox moved to the bed and sat across from her, meeting her eyes with his own green ones. "We all are, babe."

"I know, but… You know, I've tried _so hard _to read him. I mean, you know how he is – he's not one to keep things bottled up. If you had asked me before, I could have told you exactly what was making him do the things he did. And now…"

She stood up and paced a few times, then stopped and faced Fox. "If he doesn't sort himself out soon, there's no telling what he might do."

Fox cringed. "I was afraid someone would say that eventually."

"So you thought of it too?"

"Jesus, Krystal, we've all thought of it at one point or another. It's just too awful for anyone to put into words." He blew a long breath out through his nose, rubbing his temples tiredly. "I'd talk to him, but it seems like the one part of his personality that's still intact is the whole closed-book bullshit he pulls."

Krystal sat beside him and took his hand in hers. She kissed his cheek fondly. "We'll figure it out, won't we? Before it gets out of hand?"

He ran his fingers through her hair. "I hope so." He leaned in to kiss her on the lips, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Irritably, he pulled away. "What?"

"Uh, guys?" Slippy's voice came from the other side of the door. "I hate to wake you or anything, but… I think you should see this."

Within minutes, the residents of the Great Fox in their entirety were standing in the central control room, groggy and in their pajamas – with the exception of Falco, of course. Beside Slippy was his wife Amanda. The pretty pink toad was looking neat and well-groomed in a purple robe, and although it was likely that she had just been woken up like the rest of them, she was alert and cheerful.

Also there was Peppy and his daughter, Lucy. Although Peppy had aged considerably since his run with the original Star Fox team, the old rabbit was still just as skilled a pilot as he ever was. And it looked as though Lucy was following in her dad's footsteps. Tricky, the young dinosaur prince of the EarthWalker tribe looked sleepier than any of the rest of them. At any moment it seemed like he would doze off where he stood. He probably would have, too, if the robot ROB wasn't constantly nudging him in the ribcage with one foot.

"All right," said Slippy. "Everyone's here."

"Yeah, we're all here," said Lucy grumpily. "And we're all wondering why the hell you dragged us out of bed at two in the morning."

"S-s-s-seriously, man," Tricky yawned. "You'd better have a good reason for this."

"Haven't any of you looked out the window?" said Slippy incredulously. "It would be pretty obvious if you had."

Every pair of eyes in the room turned to the large window behind Slippy, and there was an instantaneous explosion of angry shouts.

"It's Wolf and Panther!" Krystal hissed. "What are they doing here?"

Sure enough, the ships of the two Star Wolf members were closing in on the Great fox – and fast.

"Do they have a death wish or something?" growled Fox. "The two of them against all of us? They don't stand a chance."

"That's just it, isn't it?" said Slippy, a little breathlessly. "About ten minutes ago, I got this email."

He held a sheet of paper out to Peppy, who took it immediately. Lowering his glasses, he scanned it for a few seconds, a deep frown of confusion creasing the space between his eyebrows. "This is the strangest thing…"

"What does it say?" said Amanda eagerly. "Read it."

Peppy cleared his throat and began to read, a little hesitant at first. "This is an urgent message for team Star Fox. I can assure you that neither of us means you any harm. To demonstrate this, we will come from our ships unarmed and without any intention of starting an argument – Panther Caroso." Peppy snorted before reading the final line: "P.S. I have with me a bouquet of roses for the lovely Krystal – if you could have a vase prepared, I would be incredibly grateful."

Krystal rolled her eyes. "Persistent little kitty, isn't he?"

"I don't know, Slip," said Fox warily, "there's something I don't like about this. What if it's a trap?"

"If it was a trap," said Slippy, "it would be a pretty poorly planned one. Like you said, they don't stand a chance against all of us. They'd basically be handing themselves to us on a silver platter."

"Yeah, but should we let them through?" Lucy asked skeptically.

"Let them through. They won't try anything – they're not stupid."

The focus of the entire room was shifted to Falco when he spoke. _Even his voice sounds hollow, _thought Fox with dismay. _It's probably been days since he's said anything._

"Uh… okay. Send them a message, Slip."

"Got it."

Slippy's fingers were lightning fast as they clicked away on the keyboard. When the message was sent, he stood from his chair. "Follow me, everyone," he said as he walked from the room. "We've gotta meet these guys at the door. They may not be stupid enough to attack us, but I wouldn't put stealing past them."

When Panther and Wolf stepped aboard the Great Fox, the team's demeanor transformed completely. The air around them was so cold, it was almost enough to make them shiver. Wolf made eye contact with Fox from across the hall and nodded icily.

"McCloud," he said coolly.

"What do you want with us, Wolf?"

"Well, now," said Panther in his low purr, "that's hardly the way to treat a guest."

"We let you come into our ship," said Peppy, uncharacteristically harsh. "We didn't say anything about making you comfortable."

"I see. At any rate, I have here twelve red roses, and if we don't get them into some water soon, I'm certain they will wilt."

Krystal's mouth twitched. After what seemed like an intensely painful moment of contemplation, she snatched the roses away from Panther. When Fox gaped at her, she muttered, "I'd hate to see pretty flowers go to waste, that's all…"

"Can we at least sit down somewhere and discuss the matter?" inquired Panther.

There was a momentary silence, broken by Amanda: "I'm sure that would be alright. This isn't really the place to have a conversation. Well it's _not," _she snapped, because everyone was gawking at her in disbelief. "Let's go into the living room. I'll get us some beers…"

"Ooh, beer! Excellent"

"Not for _you, _Tricky."

"Damn it."

When they were all seated comfortably in the living room, Wolf began to speak. "Obviously our reason for being here is important. Important enough that we thought it might be possible to put our differences aside temporarily."

Panther snorted. _"We _thought? I almost had to drag you here."

"Nonetheless," said Wolf loudly, "once we obtained the information you're about to hear, we knew we would need help. You guys were the only ones skilled enough to be of any assistance at all to the cause."

"Yeah, yeah," said Fox impatiently, drumming his fingers on the coffee table. "Just tell us what it is that you need.

Wolf scrutinized his rival for a moment before beginning. "Panther and I have severed our ties with Leon. He's joined up with Pigma and Oikonny."

Fox blinked. "And…?"

"And they're planning something. Something horrible."

"Of course they are. What is it this time?" Fox sounded almost bored. They had dealt with Andross' nephew, Andrew Oikonny, several times in their career. Every time he had plotted evil against the Lylat system, his attempts had fallen short. Every time the Star Fox team had been called against him, they had been successful in thwarting him. What was one more of his pathetic schemes?

"Do you remember the O'Neills?" inquired Wolf.

The sound of the name was somewhat startling to Fox. "You mean Lex and his family?" Wolf nodded. "Yeah, of course I do. They were a pretty big help to my dad back in the day. Lex is a hell of a pilot."

"Who's Lex?" asked Tricky.

"Alexander O'Neill," explained Fox, "is the head of the Phoenix Armada."

"The Phoenix Armada?" Amanda said, frowning slightly.

"They're an incredible team," said Peppy. "Lex and his wife Natalie formed the Phoenix Armada around the time his youngest son was born. Lex, James and I went to school together. Good guy. Good pilot."

"Last I heard, they had their kids on the team, too," said Fox.

"Yep. They've got four kids, the O'Neills. The oldest was Alyson. Then there were the twins… Meg and Jack. And the youngest... Well, he'd be about your age now, Fox. Damn it, what was the name…?"

"Rocky," said Lucy, a little too quickly. She blushed furiously and muttered, "His name's Rocky."

"Wait a minute," said Slippy slowly, "is this – Are they raccoons?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I've heard of that last one. Rocky O'Neill… He's supposed to be some sort of big shot, isn't he? They say he's _crazy _fast."

"Yeah," said Fox nostalgically. "Yeah, I remember Rocky. He and I used to hang out when we were kids. Boy, I'd like to see Lex again, though. What's he up to?"

"He's dead," said Wolf harshly.

The words felt like a blow to his chest. For a very long time, he couldn't say anything – just sit there and blink. The warmth in the air had been sucked from the room once again. Everyone was silent.

"I thought you said you'd break the news slowly," said Panther quietly, irritably.

"I was," snapped Wolf, "but we've wasted too much time already."

"But," said Fox, when he regained use of his voice, "how? When?"

"He was murdered," said Panther. "And from the looks of it, it was long, drawn-out, and unpleasant. Stabbed through the stomach and left there to bleed to death."

"Oh, God," said Krystal.

"Who did it?" asked Fox miserably. Wolf smiled a crooked, mirthless smile.

"The only scum in the Lylat system who could make a good man suffer and still lay his ugly head on his pillow and sleep at night."

"Pigma," said Fox immediately. "Son of a bitch."

There was a shattering sound from the corner. At the sound of Pigma's name, there was a change in Falco's solemn demeanor. He had slammed his glass down on the table with such force that it had shattered – but he didn't seem to notice it. He looked panicked, and it seemed for a moment as if he was going to say something, but instead stared at the ground, shaking his head.

"Pigma," said Panther, looking at Falco with a raised eyebrow. "And Leon. So you see now why we severed our ties with the slimy little reptile. We figured it was his handiwork. Not Lex – no, Pigma's ego wouldn't allow Leon to take care of the father. That's his specialty. But the rest of them–"

Peppy looked up. "The rest of them?" he said, face lined with shock and dismay.

"Oh… Uh… we, uh… I guess they were having some kind of a family reunion or something. They killed the whole family, plus Alyson, Meg and Jack's husbands and wife... And there were… two little girls. They're all dead."

Fox shook his head mournfully. "All dead…" he echoed. "They killed them all… I can't believe this."

"That's not the half of it," Wolf continued bitterly. "When we were sent in to… evacuate the house, we found Meg and Alyson in the master bedroom. They were ripped to shreds, but only God knows what else the bastards did to them. Jack we found drowned in the bathtub. The in-laws were shot in the back yard, execution style. And Natalie, she was hanging in the closet."

"The kids were the worst part," Panther went on. "Just little things… We found them face down on the living room floor. They were poisoned."

"Why?" said Peppy in a voice that was barely audible. "What could they possibly want with the O'Neills?"

"Lex O'Neill was a great scientist," said Wolf heavily. "Not many people knew that about him. When he wasn't fighting or flying, he spent his life dedicated to a top secret experiment. It was supposed to be a weapon unlike anything in existence. He called it Project Phoenix."

"Named after the Phoenix Armada?" asked Amanda.

"Actually," said Panther, "it would appear that it was the other way around. Project Phoenix was in its early stages long before Rocky was born, so–"

"Wait a minute!" said a tearful Lucy suddenly. "What happened to Rocky?! You never said!"

"Rocky is still alive," said Wolf. "For now, anyway. But we'll get to that later."

A surge of relief swelled up in Fox's stomach. Panther went on, "As I was saying, Project Phoenix was kept under wraps for years. No one even knew he was working on anything. But then, about three years ago, a rumor began to circulate about its existence. Oikonny was curious about it. He searched high and low. But it seemed like it just vanished into thin air as quickly as it had materialized. It wasn't until last week that the whole secret was blown."

"How?" said Lucy.

"Rocky O'Neill," said Wolf, "was working as a spy. He's amazingly convincing. Even I believed the whole story he sold Oikonny about his resentment of his father and his hatred of anything to do with you, Fox, or anyone who has anything to do with you. Oikonny took a liking to him. Pretty soon, Rocky was in on all of Oikonny's master plans. He was doing good work. But he got careless."

Wolf paused, took a swig of beer, stretched his long legs out, and continued, "He got way too comfortable being around Oikonny. He could have left anytime, but he figured he could get more information out of him. Then, one day, we were all sitting around, drinking margaritas, when Oikonny storms in. Someone – we don't know who, and trust me, we've tried to figure it out – had been spying on the O'Neills. They went to Oikonny and ratted Rocky out. And they seemed to have a lot of information about Project Phoenix."

"They told Oikonny everything," murmured Slippy. "Everything about Lex's research."

"Oikonny went _ballistic," _said Panther. "I've never seen anyone so angry in my life."

"It was then and there that he ordered the O'Neills to be killed and their house ransacked. He wanted all and any information on Project Phoenix," said Wolf. "Rocky he locked up. He's been torturing him ever since – the first act was showing him the video they'd taken of his family's murder."

"Oh, God," Lucy sobbed. "Oh, no…"

"Anyway, we were sent in to collect information about Project Phoenix,' said Panther. "Now, you can imagine by that time, we'd already made up our minds to leave. It was just… it was sick, you know? So we told Oikonny we didn't find anything, that he must have had some kind of secret lab somewhere. And we took off."

"But you did find something, didn't you?" said Tricky excitedly.

Panther nodded. "This," he said, fishing around in his pocket, "is a map of the planet Zoness." He showed them all a piece of paper, old and yellowing. "We found it a frame behind their family portrait. Now, right here…" He pointed to a tiny island. "…See he's got an arrow pointing to that little island there. And the label is written in some kind of code."

"It was a pain in the ass to decode it, too," said Wolf. "But we finally figured it out."

"And?" said Krystal. "What does it say?"

Wolf's eyes glinted. "Phoenix," he said. "It says 'Phoenix.'"

"Then that's it!" said Fox, jumping out of his seat. "We've gotta go find Project Phoenix and take it before Oikonny can get his dirty paws on it!"

"That's the idea, yeah," said Panther dryly, but there was a slight smile sparkling in his eyes.

"I say we get going," Fox said. "Slippy, it's time for a little change of course."

"My thoughts exactly," said Slippy, standing. "I hope you all like swimming, 'cause it looks like we're headed for Zoness."

"Why hasn't he said anything?"

Somehow, an hour or so later, Fox had found himself sitting alone in a room with Panther. For the most part, they had just been staring shrewdly at one another. But, every once in awhile, one of them would speak.

"Why hasn't who said anything?" Fox asked.

"The bird." Panther nodded to where Falco was sitting, behind a sliding glass door in another room. "As I remember, he used to have quite the beak on him."

Fox sighed. "We don't really know," he admitted. "He left a few months back, and when he came back, he – Hey, wait a minute, why am I telling _you _this?"

Panther shrugged. "Because I asked."

"Yeah, well," Fox grumbled, "what do you care, anyway?"

"I was just wondering," Panther growled back. "No need to get defensive."

"Fine."

"Yeah, it is."

"You know," Fox snapped, "just because we're helping you out doesn't make us cool, alright?"

"Unless I'm mistaken, _fox boy, _it was _we _who were helping _you." _

"And that makes you a saint all of a sudden?"

"Hey, I don't need this from you!" Panther, at his full height, fur bristling, was quite the spectacle. He clenched his fists and bared sharp white teeth as he snarled, "We're not asking for charity. We're not even asking for hospitality. All we want is a way to make things okay again. I mean, I know it can never be okay, but as long as we do something to prevent that son of a bitch from slaughtering anyone else, maybe it'll do some good. Until then, you don't have to like me, you don't have to talk to me – hell, you don't even have to _look _at me. But just don't get in the way, alright? And don't try to tell me I've got some kind of ulterior motive in mind!"

Fox stared. "Alright, alright," he said slowly. "Calm down. Just… sit down."

Panther did so, still trembling a little, but otherwise calm. "I'm never going to get the image of those little girls out of my head," he said, more to himself than anyone else. "But I can at least make sure nobody else ends up in the same state."

He looked so dejected sitting there; Fox felt a stab of guilt. "Look," he said. "I don't know if I'm ever gonna like either of you. I mean, we've been enemies for so long. But I… well, I guess I respect you, that's all."

Panther looked up.

"It took a lot of guts to do what you guys did," Fox went on. "I guess I underestimated you. And… well… I…" He struggled to find words.

"Let's just call it a truce," said Panther quickly, and then hastily added, "For now, anyway."

"That sounds like a plan to me."

There was an awkward pause between the two, which was thankfully broken when the door was pushed open. Amanda stood in the doorway.

"Hey, guys," she said. "Suit up. We'll be landing in less than five minutes. Oh, and it's supposed to be hot, so don't dress too heavily!" And she turned and walked away.

"Well," Fox said, glad for an excuse to leave the room, "I guess we'd better do what she says."

"Yeah," Panther agreed, standing. "Yeah, we should… What did you say her name was again?"

"I didn't. But it's Amanda."

"Have I met her? No, I couldn't possibly have. I would remember a face like that."

"She's married, Panther."

"A minor setback."

"Jesus… would you just keep it in your pants, just for this trip? Just – don't try to sleep with any of the girls, alright? _Especially _Krystal."

"Oh, all right. I can try that."

"Thank you."

"I can't make any promises, though…"


	2. Chapter 2: Project Phoenix

CHAPTER TWO - PROJECT PHOENIX

THE PLANET ZONESS – AN UNCHARTED ISLAND

"Amanda wasn't kidding! It's _scorching _out here!"

Krystal fanned herself with one hand. They stood on a tiny island, facing a thick rainforest. Although the island was small, the search for Project Phoenix would definitely be hindered by all that foliage. They had agreed to split up and search the island in teams of two.

"If you're hot, Krystal," Panther purred, "I'd be happy to–"

"Panther," warned Fox, "what did I say?"

"What? I was just going to offer to get her some water. You think too poorly of me, Fox. Sometimes I _can _just be a gentleman."

"Oh. Well… sorry." He turned his back on them to scan the island a little further. When he did so, Panther winked at Krystal. As much as she tried to scowl at him, she suddenly found herself unable to keep from smiling as she rolled her eyes. She hated to admit it, but Panther was starting to grow on her.

"Alright," said Peppy as he and his daughter joined the rest of the group. "Lucy and I took the liberty of drawing up maps for everyone. Here's one for Fox and Krystal, Slippy and Amanda, Wolf and Panther, and Tricky and Falco. Lucy and I are headed this way." He pointed somewhere into the forest. "Now, I want you all to stay together. And be alert. There's no telling whether or not Oikonny's little spy knew the location of Project Phoenix all along."

"Sounds like a plan," said Fox cheerfully. "The island's not very big; we should be able to find this thing in no time. Let's head off!"

He and Krystal began walking in the direction indicated on their map. As took their first steps into the dense, fragrant rainforest, he heard Tricky's muttered complaint: "What's the point of being partnered up when your partner won't even acknowledge you?" A slow smile spread across his lips – there probably wasn't a more unsuitable match in their party than the chatty, exuberant young EarthWalker and the aloof, brooding falcon. They'd have a hell of a time together, that much was certain.

They set off feeling confident in their ability to find Project Phoenix. Their spirits high, they joked with one another and admired the scenery. But, after twenty minutes of searching, the rainforest began to feel smaller and more humid. It got harder and harder for them to breath, and they were constantly swatting mosquitoes from their sweating necks.

"I now understand why this island is uninhabited," Fox grumbled. "I'm getting eaten alive."

"You have to admit," said Krystal. "The initial effect is breathtaking."

"Yeah, sure, it's nice enough to look at for a few minutes. But initial effects don't exactly sell vacation homes, do they?"

Krystal laughed. "I guess not, but look on the – damn it!" She nearly tripped on a concealed rock, stubbing her toe in the process. Fox caught her before she could fall.

He sat down with her on a nearby fallen tree. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just startled me, that's all." She scanned their surroundings hopelessly. What had at first been one of the most awe-inspiring thing she had ever seen was slowly turning into an endless, nauseating labyrinth of brown and green. "God, this _sucks!"_

"Tell me about it," Fox agreed. He studied her face briefly, brushing a leaf from behind her left ear. "Your hair's getting long."

She touched it self-consciously. "Yeah, I dunno, I was thinking of getting it cut…"

"No," he said quickly. "No, I like it like this." A slow smile spread across her face. He could feel his own getting warmer.

_After all this time we've been together, _he thought dizzily, _every time I see her still seems like the first._

He leaned in and kissed her then – tentatively at first, then more passionately. Wrapping one arm around her waist, he pulled her closer to him as she folded her hands on the back of his neck.

_At least I don't have any trouble in _this _department._

The duration of the kiss was cut infuriatingly short. She broke away, laughing softly. "As much as I'm enjoying this, we've kind of got something to take care of," she reminded him. He swore under his breath.

"You're right," he said reluctantly. "We should probably get back on track."

"It shouldn't be much longer, though," she said, frustratingly cheery. "I'm sure we'll find it in no time."

"I'm sure," said Fox dully, following her deeper into the trees. "I wonder if Slip and Amanda are making any progress."

They weren't.

"Slippy," panted Amanda, "this is hopeless. I feel like we're going in a circle." She rested against a tree, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand.

"We'd have no way of knowing, would we?" said Slippy sullenly, joining her. "The whole damn forest looks exactly the same everywhere you turn."

"And, is it just me, or does it seems like we've been walking uphill ever since we started?" Amanda lowered herself into a sitting position on the forest floor. It wasn't very comfortable; she squirmed, trying in vain to settle into a comfortable position.

"It's not just you." He sat beside her, rubbing his sore ankles.

"It's so humid in here," said Amanda. She grimaced. "Ugh. I'm all gross and sweaty – I probably look disgusting."

Slippy looked at her, mildly amused. "That's not possible. You look beautiful. A little… _shinier_ than usual, maybe, but beautiful. As always."

She grinned fondly at him, kissing him lightly on the lips. "How did I get so lucky?"

"You didn't" he assured her. _"I _did."

"I gotta tell you," Amanda sighed, "as terrible as this little _excursion _has been so far, we couldn't have picked a prettier location."

"I'll agree with that. It's funny…" He twiddled his thumbs a little. "I was starting to think we could finally just… settle down. I was really looking forward to it. Or, at least, I thought I was."

She met his gaze quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"This is what I live for," he said, and his eyes sparkled. "I mean, yeah, I complain about it sometimes, and sometimes I wish I could just lead a hassle-free life. But being thrown into this whole thing makes me realize that I'd never really be happy with that kind of a life."

"Where does that leave me, then?" Disappointment was clearly etched in her face.

"With me, obviously. Along for the ride. If that's what you want, of course."

"Oh." Amanda rested her head on his shoulder, reassured. "Of course it is. I feel exactly the same. Do you think…" She stopped short, biting her lower lip. _Why do I always blurt things out like that?_

He looked curiously at her. "Do I think what?" She shook her head.

"Nothing. Forget I said anything."

"Amanda…"

"I…" she began, then stopped again. "I just don't wanna freak you out."

He tweaked her chin. "I've seen a lot of freaky things, honey. There's probably nothing you could say here that would top any of them."

"Slippy, I don't know."

"Just _say it _already."

"Oh, alright," Amanda said diffidently. "Fine. I was going to ask… whether or not you thought our kids would want to do what we do. There. I said it."

Slippy blinked for a moment, seemingly astonished. Then, his face broke into a grin. "You were afraid to ask me _that?"_

"Yeah," said Amanda, halfway between puzzled and defensive. "I mean, I don't want to be the girl that looks so far ahead into the future that it freaks you out."

"Amanda," laughed Slippy, kissing her on the forehead. "Amanda, you're my _wife. _You're supposed to be looking into the future. We both are."

Amanda's eyes brightened. "Really?"

"Absolutely. And as for our kids… Well, part of me hopes they have the good sense to stay out of all this. But the greater part of me hopes they don't."

"They won't," said Amanda, smiling fondly. "They'll be like you."

He snorted. "Hopefully not too much like me."

"There's no way they could be too much like you – you're the only damn thing that's keeping me from pulling my face off. This heat is unbearable. Peppy and Lucy decided who went where – they probably have it good right now."

They didn't.

"Dad," said Lucy. "Dad, stop."

"What? What is it?"

She stood in the middle of a clearing, one hand on her hip. "Look at that rock."

Peppy followed her pointing finger and stared. "What about it."

"It's the butterfly rock," said Lucy impatiently.

"The what?"

"_Dad, _don't tell me you forgot _again!" _She rubbed the bridge of her nose. _This is a hell of a time to get a headache, _she thought impatiently.

Peppy blinked at her. "What are you talking about?" He stooped down to look at the rock. "What's a butterfly rock?"

"Dad," fumed Lucy, "we've passed this rock _three times. _The first time we did, I said 'Hey, look! That rock looks like a butterfly!' and you said 'Yeah, it does!' And then we passed it _again _and I said we were going in circles because we passed the butterfly rock again and you'd forgotten all about it! Don't tell me you forgot _again!"_

"Oh, yeah!" Peppy said vaguely, standing. "The butterfly rock. Of course I didn't forget, Luce! Honestly!" She raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't?"

He grinned confidently. "You really should have more faith in your old man."

"You're right, Dad," said Lucy wryly. "I really should. You're more attentive than I give you credit for. Oh, by the way – I've been contemplating whether or not I should take up bank robbery. What do you think?"

"I think you look fine."

"I swear, Dad," Lucy said grumpily. "Sometimes I think you don't listen to a word I say."

"…What?"

"Just forget it, alright?" She sighed, then said, under her breath, "Oh, Rocky. I hope you're alright out there."

At this, Peppy snapped to attention. "Why are you so fascinated with that boy?" he asked slyly.

She hadn't meant for him to hear her – her face went furiously red. "I'm not _fascinated _with him. I'm just… worried, that's all."

"I don't buy it," he said firmly.

"I didn't expect you to." She sighed again. "So I kind of like the guy. Big deal. It's not like anything would come of it anyway."

His eyebrows furrowed. "Now, hang on. Why would you think that?"

Lucy shrugged. "I dunno, it's like… He could get any girl he wants. There are _tons _of girls out there who'd go for him – prettier girls than me. There's not really much of a reason for him to pick me over them. But it's no big deal," she added hastily. "I don't even _really_ like him."

Her father clapped a hand securely on her shoulder. "Three things," he said sternly. "First of all, you _do _like him. You're my daughter. It's my job to be able to tell what you're feeling. Second of all, there's not a guy in existence who's too good for you. Rocky's a great kid, sure, but he's not _Jesus _or something. And, third of all, there may be all kinds of girls throwing themselves at this guy, but they've all got one major disadvantage to you."

She looked up. "What's that?"

"They're not you, Lucy."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Dad…"

"No, I'm serious! You're the smartest, most talented girl in the whole damn galaxy as far as I'm concerned. And there's not a girl out there that's prettier than you."

"You're supposed to say that," she said. "You're my father."

"So?" Peppy was scowling slightly now. "That doesn't mean jack shit. I don't say these things because you're my daughter. I say them because I mean them."

Lucy managed a small smile. "Thanks, Dad," she said quietly. He pulled her into a tight hug.

"You're becoming more and more like your mother every day, kid," he said fondly. He broke away and patted her on the back. "We'd better get a move on, though, if we want to find this Project Phoenix… whatever it is."

"Yeah. We made a mistake not taking beach patrol. That Wolf and Panther got the easy gig. I mean, I'm sure it's boring, but…"

It was.

"What is it?"

"I dunno. It looks like a jellyfish."

"Poke it with something. Get a stick."

"I don't want it to pop all over me."

"Don't be such a scaredy cat, just do – Hey. I made a joke."

"…"

"Get it, because you're a panther… and I called you a… Oh, forget it." Wolf sat down in the sand, watching the tide come lazily in. "I can safely say this is the least fun I've had in a long time."

Panther began pacing impatiently. His tail flicked from side to side in agitation. "Seriously. I mean, we told them about the damn thing. The least they could do for us is let us look for it."

"They don't trust us," said Wolf, hurling a shell into the sea. It skipped once, then fell unimpressively into the water. "I can't say I really blame them, either. Especially since I don't completely trust them."

"I do," said Panther. "I mean, not _totally. _But when it comes to this kind of stuff… It's weird, I never thought I'd actually be on their side."

"That makes two of us, then." He scratched behind his right ear. "I couldn't sit through that shit without doing something, though. I've done a lot of bad in my life without even batting an eyelash. But something about this just seemed like it would end in disaster. For both sides."

"The spy," said Panther, staring out into the ocean. "They probably know it's here."

"Probably."

"Then why haven't they come?" He began to pace again. "This doesn't make any sense. I set myself up for coming here, thinking they'd show up, thinking we'd have to fight them for it. But they haven't come."

"No they haven't."

"Why?"

"Shit, I don't know. So far I'm just hoping it's luck. I know that's probably pretty unrealistic, but I don't really want to think of the alternatives. Can we talk about something else? You're starting to piss me off."

"Alright, alright…" He turned and glared into the forest. "They let the _dinosaur _look. He's probably… what, half our age? If that? God knows that kid has no idea what the hell he's doing."

He didn't.

"Will you please say _something?" _Tricky trotted at Falco's heels. The entire time they'd been walking, Tricky had been trying to coax a little conversation out of the bird. He had been unsuccessful so far. In addition to the silence, Falco had been walking at a steadily brisk pace since they'd entered the forest. They hadn't stopped to rest since.

"Come _on, _Falco," Tricky pleaded. "I can't feel my feet. Can we just stop for a second? Really, just a second, that's all."

Falco said nothing. He kept walking as if he hadn't heard.

"Just _talk to me! _Please! You've hardly said anything for months. You've been cooped up in your room all day. We're worried about you. _Really _worried."

Falco's pace slowed for a split second, but then sped back up to its original speed. He remained silent.

"Will you at least tell me what happened to you?"

At this, Falco actually came to a complete stop. Tricky stood behind him, panting, seizing his chance for a little rest. _Maybe I should just tell him, _he thought, unaware that Tricky had sidled around to catch a glimpse at his face and was now staring up at him, puzzled. _It might be good to get it off my chest… Maybe it would help to just tell someone. I mean, the kid's a little bit on the stupid side, but I don't think he'd tell anyone if I asked him not to…_

But another voice spoke in the back of his mind, a voice much stronger than his own. _You can't tell him. You can't tell _anyone. _They wouldn't understand. Especially after everything that's happened with the O'Neill family. You heard that bit about the little girls. They wouldn't forgive you. Remember, you had him right in front of your face. He was right in your grasp. You had the chance to kill him – so why didn't you take it? What happened before was bad enough. But now you've gotta face the fact that what happened to that family is your fault, too. In a cosmic way, it's _your fault.

He shook his head miserably and kept walking. _I don't know how much more of this I can take. I never should have come back to the team._

Tricky groaned, trying once again to keep up with his silent teammate. "You know, it'd be a lot easier if you would just talk to someone!"

_Kid, you have no idea._

"Look, I get it," said Tricky. "You don't like me. But why not talk to someone else? It doesn't have to be me!" When Falco still didn't say anything, Tricky became increasingly furious. "Fine," he snapped. "Fine. You're not gonna say anything. You're just gonna be stupid, moody, new Falco from now on, is that it? Fine! Be new Falco! I don't give a damn one way or another. But you know what? Even though you used to be a dick, at least you were _fun." _

Falco smiled to himself. _He's the only kid I know who will insult you while he's trying to get you to spill your problems. Good old Tricky._

"And you know something else?" Tricky continued from behind him. Falco waited for the remainder of his sentence. It never came.

_Ran out of scathing comments, did we? _Tricky was quiet behind him – so was everything else. The crunching sounds the little dinosaur's feet made when he walked across the dry leaves were absent. So were his constant grumbles. Falco's brows furrowed slightly, and he turned to see what had stopped the young prince in his tracks.

Immediately after he turned, he had to duck – someone had managed to stick a dart pretty firmly in Tricky's back, and now they were trying to do the same to him. He heard a sharp, metallic noise. _A knife? A sword? Who the hell is this? And why are they trying to kill me?_ Rolling over onto his back, he saw, with a sudden flash of sunlight against metal, a long, sharp knife coming down quickly. In the nick of time, he leapt to his feet, drew his gun from his waist and faced his attacker – a figure cloaked from head to toe green and brown. The figure lunged at him again, but he evaded the attack pinned his enemy to the ground, knocking the knife from their hand and the hood from their head.

The face alone was almost enough to cause Falco to draw back in shock. As he had expected from the slightness of the knife wielder's form, he had been attacked by a girl. But he hadn't expected that face.

Breathtaking wasn't a suitable word for that face. In fact, he doubted there was any word in the English language that could do justice to that face. She was a bird of some sort, but exactly what kind, he wasn't sure. Her feathers were a golden honey color, except for the long scarlet ones that fell around her shoulders, almost like hair. They glistened in the sunlight. Her amber eyes glared at him from behind long, wiry lashes; they were encircled by feathers that matched the hue of the ones on her head. When those were swept away from her forehead, Falco noticed a mark on her forehead like a tiny flame.

For a long moment, he sat on top of her and gaped. There was nothing else he could do but stare. He had swiftly forgotten her attempts to kill him. He'd forgotten all about Tricky. He'd forgotten why he was there at all. _That face…_

"What the hell is your problem?" The girl's voice was melodious, even in its ferocity. "Get _off _of me."

This roused him from his trance. "H-huh?" He cleared his throat; even to him, his voice sounded strange.

"I said get _off." _Her eyes suddenly widened. "And… And don't get any ideas!" She struggled against his weight. "I'll bite! I swear to God, you get to close and I'll bite your face off!!"

Falco suddenly realized how this must look. Immediately, he jumped to his feet, helping the girl up as well. "Sorry," he said lamely. "You just scared me, that's all. Here, let me help–" He regretted helping her to her feet at once. As soon as she regained her footing, the girl dashed to recover her weapon and hurled herself on top of him, knocking him to the ground with surprising force. She lowered her smirking face within inches of his own startled one.

"The damsel in distress shtick," she crooned, pressing the cold blade into his neck. "Gets 'em every time."

"Get off me," he said. "Get off me, or you're really gonna regret it."

"Oh, I doubt that." She smirked, lowering her face so close to his that he could see every individual speck of light in her eyes. "So you're not the rapist type, I see. Well, it looks like _you're _the one who's gotta worry about being taken advantage of, pretty boy."

"Maybe not." Falco grabbed her wrist, forced the knife away from his neck, and rolled over again. Before she even had a minute to register what was happening, she was back under his full weight. The girl struggled, kicked, and, true to her word, attempted to bite him. But it was all in vain. Finally, she gave up, glaring and panting. "You were saying?" said Falco, savoring the enraged expression on her face. He smirked down at her, waiting for a reply. She said nothing – just focused hard on a spot somewhere between his eyes. The girl stared like that for several long seconds. The effect was unsettling.

"Hey," he said, shifting a little bit. "What are you doing?"

She blinked. "What?" she said, looking thoroughly bemused.

"Stop _staring _at me like that. It's creepy." The smirk returned to his face. "If you like what you see, just say so."

"Don't flatter yourself," she snarled. Then she resumed her staring, focusing harder this time.

"What are you _doing?!"_

"You don't feel anything?"

"Should I?" he said derisively. "What, is this good for you? 'Cause I gotta tell you, babe, I'm not feeling it."

"Shit!" she cried angrily. "I can't believe it isn't igniting! This has never happened before! This _always _works!"

"What, are you trying to light my head on fire or something?" He snickered.

She glowered at him. "Something like that."

Something in the look in her eyes told him she wasn't kidding. He felt suddenly uneasy again. "Who are you?"

"That," she said curtly, "is none of your business."

"Yeah, well, you just tried like hell to stab me, so I think I've got a right to know your name." A sudden occurrence came to him – what if she was the spy? It made sense. Why else would she be here if not for Project Phoenix? "Look," he growled, tightening his grip on her wrists, "if you're Oikonny's girl, tell me everything you know, or I'll blow your pretty little brains out right here and now." He put his gun to her forehead.

Her body was tense beneath his. "One of… What are you talking about? You mean – _you're_ not one of Oikonny's guys?"

Falco stared down at her. "No," he said. "Then… you're not either?"

"Of course not. Now get that thing out of my face, if you don't mind."

He lowered his gun and loosened his grip. "Oh." He got to his feet, the girl leaping up after him, eyeing him with distaste, but not making any move to attack him again. Heaving a sigh, Falco crouched down next to Tricky's body, pulling the dart carefully from his back. The little dinosaur was unconscious, but breathing. Falco turned back to the girl, who had removed her cloak and was now dressed in tattered white rags. They looked like they had been actual clothes at one point, but had since been reduced to shreds. He wondered absentmindedly why she didn't change into something else – but honestly couldn't say he minded all that much. She was brushing the dirt from her gleaming feathers when he spoke again. "What did you do to him?"

She looked to him, then to Tricky. "Huh? Oh. It's just a tranquilizer – it'll wear off in an hour or two." She waved her hand vaguely, as though it wasn't a big deal.

Falco shook his head, turning back to the fallen EarthWalker. "Christ, lady, he's just a kid. A stupid kid, maybe. Actually, a stupid kid _definitely_. But he wouldn't hurt a fly. You didn't have to shoot him."

"Well, now I see that," she said disdainfully. "Obviously I should have been aiming for you."

"Very cute."

She folded her cloak and tucked it under her arm. "Oh, and by the way, don't call me lady. Ever."

"What else am I supposed to call you?" He got back to his feet and turned to face her, folding his arms and leaning against a nearby tree.

"Nothing. In fact, maybe it would be best if you just didn't talk to me at all."

Falco stared at her, incredulous. "You know what, doll face? I don't think I like your attitude."

"Likewise," she said nastily. "And doll face is _not _an option, either."

"Fine," he said. "Not lady, not doll face. Then just tell me your name."

She studied him for a moment. "Tell me yours first."

"Fine," he said. "It's Falco. Now yours."

The girl looked for a moment as though she would say something vicious, but she stopped before she could speak. Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Wait a minute," she said slowly. "Your name is Falco?"

He frowned. "That _is _what I said, isn't it?"

"Falco."

"I see you have excellent hearing."

"Falco Lombardi?"

Falco froze in mid-retort. "What?"

"Is your last name Lombardi or not?" she pressed eagerly.

"Well – yeah, it is, actually…"

The girl's face split into a wide, mischievous grin. "No way," she said slowly. "No effing way. _The _Falco Lombardi, in the flesh. What are the odds?"

He examined her doubtfully. "What are you…What are you talking about? How do you know who I am?"

She acted as though she hadn't heard him. "I have to say, you're a _lot _better looking than I expected. No wonder… Still, if the stories are true…"

"Do I know you or something? Because you're starting to freak me out. Again."

"No," she said, wickedly blissful. "No, You don't know me. You _do _know my best friend."

"I do?" He shifted his weight from one foot to the next. This was getting stranger and stranger by the second.

"Yep. Does the name Katt Monroe mean anything to you?"

His stomach dropped to somewhere around the bottom of his feet. "Katt?" Falco was beginning to think this was some kind of practical joke. "Katt is your best friend?"

"Yep."

"You've _got _to be kidding me." He rubbed the back of his head.

"Nope," the girl sniggered. "We've been friends since we were sixteen. We used to spend every waking moment together, along with our friend Tundra. Consequentially, I've heard a considerable amount of dirt about you, pal."

"Dirt?" Leave it to a woman to smear a guy's name all over the pavement. "Spectacular. Tell me, what kind of crap is she spreading about me?"

"She's not _spreading _anything, thanks very much," the girl snapped. "You broke her heart, you son of a bitch. She used to call me in tears, going on about the terrible things you'd say to her."

"Broke her heart? Gimme a break."

"You really _are _an asshole!"

"Hey, she's no angel, either," said Falco angrily. "I can't believe her. Just because I wouldn't date her… Look, I told her a million times – I don't have time for girls. Especially clingy girls like her."

The girl's stare was fixed and fierce. "What, are you gay or something?"

"What?!" Falco's voice came out more like a yelp than he'd intended. "No, I'm not _gay! _What, because I wouldn't date your stupid friend–"

"Don't you dare call my friends–"

"Whatever! I'm _not _gay! I just don't have the time or the patience for relationships! Anyway, every girl I meet seems to be a complete basket case!"

"Oh, I see," the girl said in mocking realization. "So you're not gay, you just can't get girls."

"I didn't say that!"

"You didn't have to," the girl said matter-of-factly. "It's not that every girl you meet is a basket case – they just don't want to sleep with you! It makes sense now!"

"Don't put words into my mouth, alright?"

"Sorry," she said venomously, "I forgot you didn't like it when girls put things in your mouth."

_What a bitch. _At the last comment, he actually laughed. His incredulity was that profound. "You're a real piece of work, you know that?"

She simpered. "I'd like to think so."

"Obviously I can get girls," he grumbled. "Look at your precious Katt. She would have thrown herself at me if I'd given her the chance."

Her eyebrows raised. "So you refused to date my sexy, available friend, who, by the way, was totally hot for you, because you didn't have _time _for her?" She snorted. "And you think _women _are crazy…"

"Yeah," he replied, "as a matter of fact, I do. And you're not proving yourself to be an exception, by the way."

"I'm crushed. Tell me, when was the last time you got laid?"

He could feel his face get hotter. Slowly, he shook his head. "I can't believe this. You tranquilize my dumb little friend, you try to _kill _me, you accuse me of being gay, and now you're asking me questions about my sex life?"

"Are you gonna tell me or not?" She looked downright bored with the conversation.

"Not. Definitely not."

"Why not?"

"Why not? Why n – Look, you and I are total strangers. You clearly hate me. You don't even _know _me, but that's not the point. And you're not making the best impression on me, either. All this in mind, if I asked you the last time you got laid, would you tell me?"

She nodded.

"You're kidding."

"Not. Definitely not."

"Alright," he said, looking at her intently. _Is this girl for real? _"Alright, then. When?"

She breathed deeply, nostalgically. "Three years ago."

He laughed harshly. "Three years?"

"Mm-hm."

"And you're giving _me _shit?"

"Well, I haven't exactly been surrounded by men, have I? The Love Boat rarely makes stops here. It's not really Fantasy Island, in case you hadn't noticed."

He opened his mouth to unleash a stinging insult, then halted. "Wait," he said. "You… you've been living here?"

She scowled again. "Very astute of you."

"You're telling me you've been living alone on this island for the last three years?"

"Your powers of perception are astounding."

"Then… you must know something about Project Phoenix."

She stiffened. The scowl was replaced by a look of guarded fear. "How… how do you know about Project Phoenix?" He saw her hand move to the knife at her waist once again.

"I'm here to find it," he said. "I mean, not just me. There's a whole team looking for you out there."

"You're talking about Star Fox, right?" She looked hopeful. "Fox McCloud's team?"

"Yeah. They're all spread out on the island. We want to take it with us before anyone else can."

With every passing second, the girl was looking more and more cheerful "Dad said they'd come… I guess I just didn't believe. This is great. I can leave! I can _finally _leave!" She was so excited that she looked like a little girl.

As much as he had begun to hate this girl, her excitement was contagious. "Can you show us?" he asked her eagerly. "Can you take us to it?"

And it was over in the blink of an eye. The scowl resumed its position on her face. "What're you on about?"

"Project Phoenix," he said impatiently. "Have you been involved in this conversation or not?" Her face twitched.

"No, Einstein, I can't _take you to Project Phoenix," _the girl countered with a sneer.

"Why the hell not?!" Falco barked. "Look, lady – I mean… You know, screw it! Lady, we _need _to find Project Phoenix before Oikonny does! This thing is a powerful weapon, and if he gets his hands on it… Whatever, I don't expect you to understand. But the galaxy kinda depends on the son of a bitch not getting a hold of it, so can you just step out of yourself for a second and help me out?!"

"Let me finish," she said loudly. "Shit, you talk a lot. Your team should really invest in a muzzle for you."

"Cut the crap and tell me where it is."

She gave him a withering stare. "It's right in front of your face, dipshit."

"What?!" He looked all around the small clearing in which they were standing. "What do you mean?! Where is it?! Show me where it is!!"

"I can't _show you," _she said irately, "don't you get it?"

He was getting more and more furious by the second. "No, I really don't! Enlighten me, will you, _doll face?" _He put an excessive amount of emphasis on the last two words for effect.

"I can't show you Project Phoenix," she went on, "because you're already looking at it."

He stopped trying to look around her and gawked at her. On her face was a look that was irately impatient, but calm. "Come again?"

"I can't show you Project Phoenix," she said, "because I _am _Project Phoenix."


	3. Chapter 3: Raging Waters

CHAPTER THREE - RAGING WATERS

"You're… what

"You're… what?" Falco couldn't tell if the girl standing confidently before him was being serious or not.

The girl smiled calmly back at him. "You heard me." She was serious. He didn't know how he could tell. But there was something direct in the way she spoke, the way she stood, the way she looked back at him. She couldn't be joking. It wasn't possible.

"But…" his head was spinning. "But that's impossible. It's some kind of experiment."

She shrugged. "So my childhood was a little unconventional."

"If you're lying to me–"

"I'm not."

He continued to gawk at her, perfectly composed, entirely straightforward. "You… _you're _the weapon? _You're _what Oikonny wants?"

"Not what," she said crossly. _"Who. _I'm not a robot or something."

"Then what _are _you? _Who _are you?"

She smiled roguishly. "I think it's safe to properly introduce myself. I'm Phoenix. Phoenix O'Neill. That covers the 'who' aspect of your question… as for the 'what,' I'm exactly what you see in front of you."

"That's it?"

Phoenix frowned. "Ouch."

"That doesn't make sense," said Falco, not bothering to apologize for his rudeness. "You're supposed to be all powerful or something. You couldn't even knock _me _off of you."

"You seem to be the annoying exception to my capabilities," she mused. "When you had me pinned to the ground, I _was _trying to light you on fire. I could have done it if you were anyone else. But with you, there's some kind of road block there."

"You were trying to light me on fire?" said Falco mordantly.

"Yes," Phoenix said coldly. "Unfortunately, I didn't succeed."

"So you're saying you've lit people on fire before?" She nodded. "And you could do it again, if you tried?" Another nod. "Prove it."

"Alright," she said. "Pick something." He surveyed the surrounding area, finally settling on a skeletal, dead bush.

"That," he said, nodding in its direction. "It's dry – it should be easy enough."

"More like _too _easy." She turned her gaze lazily in the direction of the bush. Then, after a quick, arrogant glance back in Falco's direction, she proceeded to focus on the dead plant the way she had focused on Falco earlier. She did so just for a split second – that seemed to be all she needed. The bush was suddenly engulfed entirely in flames, unnatural-looking, scarlet flames.

"Jesus Christ!" Falco shouted. Phoenix turned to him at the sound of his voice. He stumbled backward, nearly falling over.

"Oh, relax," she said over the crackling of the fire. "It doesn't work on you, remember?"

"P-put it out!" He pointed a shaking finger at the burning bush. "The whole forest's gonna burn! Make it stop!"

"Right," said Phoenix. She turned back to the bush, but this time focused on a spot a few feet in the air above it. As she stared, tiny drops of moisture began to accumulate in midair. To Falco's complete bewilderment, there was soon an orb of water roughly the size of a basketball, hovering in the air above the blaze. Phoenix made a gesture with her head like a slight nod; the water ball splashed all over the bush, extinguishing the fire. The charred plant sizzled and steamed.

Falco suddenly felt that his legs couldn't support his full weight. He slid into a sitting position, his back against a tree. Phoenix looked back at him, seemingly amused.

"What's the matter?" she teased. "You got weak ankles or something?"

"How did you… the water…" Falco trailed off.

"Oh, yeah," said Phoenix casually. "I forgot. I can do that, too."

His mouth was completely dry. "How?"

"You're wondering if it's magic." He nodded. "You're not the first. It's not, by the way. I'm psychokinetic. Among other things."

Falco cleared his throat. "What's that?"

"Well," she said, "it's pretty much an umbrella term. It covers a lot of what I can do. Not all of it. But most of it. Because of the psychokinesis, I'm also telekinetic, pyrokinetic, hydrokinetic, and aerokinetic – that means I can bend air molecules. Like this." A sudden, strong wind swept through the trees. "I'm also cryokinetic, but that one's kinda boring, so I don't use it very often."

"What is it?" asked Falco feebly. She put a finger to a nearby flower – in a matter of seconds, it was completely frozen. "Oh."

"I have magnetic control," she went on, "and control of photons, to a certain extent. My pyro and cryo can be used just to control the temperature. Watch." She shifted her gaze to the frozen flower. Slowly, the ice melted away. It was soon totally thawed. "Um… let's see. I'm telepathic. But I can also make people think things – put words, ideas, and pictures into their minds. And all this comes with a kind of force field. It's like a shield that I can use on myself in case I ever face anyone with the same capabilities that I have. I can extend it to other people; it just takes a lot of effort."

Falco felt weak. "What are you?" he asked again.

"I'm a phoenix," she explained. "I'm just a normal girl. Just like everyone else. I just have a few… _enhancements."_

"A phoenix…" he echoed. "I thought those were mythical."

"Obviously you were mistaken. Although, you aren't too far off the mark. I'm the only one of my kind left."

"So… the whole 'born from the ashes' thing?"

"Not entirely true," she replied. "I wasn't born from any ashes, as far as I can tell. But I _can _heal myself when I've been injured. That takes a little bit of effort, but not much. Healing others is a lot easier. I'm sure you've heard that part of the myth."

"Phoenix tears?"

She smirked. "Kisses, too. Yeah, I guess it's something in my saliva… It sounds a lot more romantic than it is. The kissing thing is a lot easier than the tears, though. It's hard to conjure tears on the spot. Especially if it's someone you don't necessarily care for."

"What happened to the rest of you?" Finally regaining the strength in his mind, Falco stood.

"That's a story I'll save for when I meet the rest of your team. For now, we should head back to my place. I need to get all of my crap before we push off." She began to walk away, through the trees.

"Wait a minute!" Falco called after her. She poked her head back into the little clearing.

"What?"

He motioned to Tricky, who was kicking in his sleep and snoring loudly. "Heal him first!"

"I can't heal him," she said irritably. "There's nothing there to heal. The dart itself is basically harmless – it would be as pointless as healing a bee sting."

The prospect of carrying Tricky wasn't one Falco was willing to consider. He nudged Tricky with his toe. "You can't wake him up or something?" She shook her head.

"I might have something back home. There's an antidote to counteract the qualities of that poison. Yeah… yeah that should work. Follow me." She turned again.

Falco rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Wait!"

"What the hell do you want now?"

"Do you expect me to carry this all the way to your house? It's not like he weighs a metric ton or anything."

She tapped her chin with one forefinger. "Point taken," she said. She raised a hand to the level of her shoulder, palm facing the sky. Tricky was yanked into midair and levitated to the space two or three feet in front of Phoenix's face. _"Now _will you follow me?"

It could hardly be called a house – the space where Phoenix had been living these past three years. A hut was more like it. It was tiny, and cramped even from outside, where Falco stood examining it.

"Wipe that condescending look off your face," said Phoenix tetchily, "before I smack it off for you."

"Did _you _build it?" As he spoke, a shingle fell off the roof, crumbling on the ground.

"It was here when I got here," said Phoenix, who had begun turning Tricky over in a series of ridiculous, midair somersaults. "I didn't have the materials or the means to build my own. But, since it doesn't look like I'll be living here anymore, I don't give a rat's ass whether or not the damn thing falls to the ground. In fact, I think I might light it on fire."

"I'd get all your crap out of it first, if I were you," Falco advised her.

"A genius idea," she said sardonically. "Duly noted." She seemed to have grown tired of her little game with the unconscious EarthWalker. Tricky was once again immobile.

"Are we gonna go in, or not?" Falco scratched the back of his calf with the toe of his boot. "These mosquitoes are starting to bite through my clothes."

"I'm kind of tied up here," she said. "Unless you want me to drop him?" She leaned over to the right slightly, as if trying to look through one of the cracked windows. "Hey!" she called. "Hey, Maya! I could use a little help here!"

For a few seconds, nothing happened. "Who are you talking to?" Falco inquired with irritation. "Wait a minute – you're not a schitzo or something, are you?"

"Shut up. Maya! Open the door please!"

"I thought you said you lived her alo – What the hell is that?"

The door had swung open from the inside. In the doorway, there stood a small, lavender dinosaur. But she was unlike the dinosaurs of Dinosaur Planet. Although she somewhat resembled an EarthWalker, she was a different color, and had several characteristics that differed from Tricky's people.

The little dinosaur had a mildly insulted look in her blue-green eyes. "I send you out for an hour and you come back with a man?" Her voice was adolescent, but her tone was distinctly more adult. "When you said you were going hunting, I didn't realize this was what you had in mind."

"Let me tell you," said Phoenix shortly, "he's not as great as he looks."

"Thanks for that," said Falco.

"No problem. Maya, we're leaving."

Maya, who still had apparently failed to notice the dinosaur levitating above her scaly head, shrugged. "Alright. I'll throw your stuff into a suitcase."

"Thanks, Maya. Oh, I almost forgot…" Phoenix lowered Tricky to the ground in front of Maya's feet. The purple dinosaur looked faintly interested for the first time since they'd arrived.

"You brought me one, too? Excellent." She walked a circle around Tricky, apparently studying him. "He's cute. What's wrong with him?"

"Shot with a tranquilizer, that's all," Phoenix answered. "Nothing a little bit of the antidote won't fix."

"We've got a little bit left, luckily," said Maya. "Just enough to wake him, I expect." She turned her tail and ambled back into the house. Phoenix began to follow her, stepping over Tricky. As she stepped over the threshold, she paused, turning back to Falco.

"You wait here," she commanded. "I don't want you touching any of my stuff." And she turned and entered the house.

"Charming," said Falco under his breath. "Really charming." He sat on the doorstep, waiting. After no more than five minutes, Phoenix emerged with a large suitcase, seemingly jam packed with her personal belongings. Maya trotted at her heels, a small vial of fluid in her beak. Phoenix set her bag down and took the liquid from the dinosaur, tilting Tricky's chin and emptying it down his throat.

Tricky stirred for a second. Then, his eyelids fluttered open. His blue eyes were unfocused momentarily before swiveling upwards and resting on Maya's face. He leapt to his feet with a startled yelp.

"Oh, no!" he cried, looking all around him. "Oh, no, this can't be happening!"

"Tricky, calm down." Falco knelt in front of the trembling prince, trying to pacify him. "You're alright."

"They got you too?" Tricky gave a little whimper of misery. "Oh, no. I can't believe this! I'm too young to die! We both are!"

Falco frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"I guess it's time to face it," said Tricky shakily. "As much as I hate to admit it, it's time to walk into the light. Where's the light?! _I can't find the light!"_

"Tricky!" Falco seized his shoulders, shaking him fiercely. "Tricky, you're not dead!"

Tricky looked mystified. "I'm… I'm not?"

"No! For the love of God!"

"How do you explain her, then?" He nodded toward Maya, who, in spite of Tricky's puzzling behavior, still showed mild signs of emotion.

"What?" Falco had no idea what he was talking about. "What do you…? Did that antidote screw with his brain or something?"

'It shouldn't have…"

"No!" Tricky was regaining his composure steadily. "I'm perfectly sane, thanks. Except for the hallucination."

"What hallucination?"

"That!!" He nodded once again in Maya's direction. "Haven't you been listening? She's an angel! I've seen pictures of things like her – they only appear to you if you're dead or hallucinating, and – Why are you laughing?!"

Falco couldn't help it. The laughter was soon shaking his entire body. "Tricky, you dunce," he said, wiping his eyes. "She's not an angel. Jesus…"

Tricky gawked at him. "She's not?" He shook his head, still laughing. "Wow. Then… wow. I'm embarrassed."

"Don't be," said Maya. She sidled up to where he was standing. "That was sweet."

Tricky was blushing tremendously. "Thanks…" he mumbled.

"Alright, alright." Phoenix picked her suitcase back up with a trace of annoyance. "Enough doe eyes, you two. Bird boy needs to lead us back to his ship so we can hightail it outta here."

"I might if you show me a little more civility."

"I don't need to show you jack, you self-glorifying parrot."

"You know what?" Falco had bypassed irritation and gone straight to the anger stage. "You're a real bitch."

"At least she got you talking again, though," piped up Tricky. Phoenix looked down at him, her interest peaked.

"What's that?"

"Before I passed out," Tricky went on cheerily, "he wouldn't say two words to me."

"Tricky," Falco warned, "that's enough."

"No," said Phoenix. "No, go on."

"Well, it was like that for months before today. He went off by himself for a few months – he does that from time to time – and when he came back, he was all quiet and moody. He would say maybe a total of two sentences per month, shut himself in his room… We thought something must have happened to him while he was away, and–"

"Tricky," Falco said harshly, "enough." Both he and Phoenix looked startled by the sudden change in his tone. Tricky looked at the ground. "Sorry," he muttered.

Phoenix watched Falco for a few moments; he made an effort not to meet her gaze. "Alright, she said, after a while. "Alright. Can you take us back, or not?"

"Yeah," said Falco. He suddenly wasn't feeling up to talking all that much. "Just… follow me."

"Falco! Tricky! Hey, guys, look who's finally back!"

Amanda stood on the outskirts of the forest, a yard or two away from where the rest of the group had congregated on the beach. Falco stepped through the trees first, followed by Tricky. Fox stood up, brushing the sand from the backs of his thighs.

"Hey," he said, directing his words toward Tricky. "Any luck? We all came up short."

"I'd say we had a bit of luck," said Tricky with a grin. Fox's eyes widened.

"Did you find it?" he inquired enthusiastically. "Did you find Project Phoenix?"

"We found it alright." Falco's voice – the true intonation of his voice – drew the attention of everyone. Fox stared.

"You… You did?" Falco nodded crossly.

"Yep," he said, kicking up a little bit of sand as he did. "I'm starting to wish we didn't, though."

"Jesus!" As if on cue, Phoenix pushed through the trees, followed closely by Maya. "I have a suitcase to lug around, you know! You could have at least _waited _for me."

The rest of the team got to their feet, one by one, taken aback by the unexpected addition to their party.

"Hello," said Wolf in mild surprise. "Who's this, then?"

"Phoenix," she introduced herself. "I'm Phoenix O'Neill." The group nodded and waved their hellos. Out of all of them, Slippy alone seemed to realize her significance at once.

"Oh my God," he said, taking small, slow steps toward her. "Oh my God. It makes sense… it makes perfect sense…"

Phoenix blinked at him. "Excuse me?"

"_You're _it!" Slippy said breathlessly. "Of course you're it! You're the _perfect _weapon! It makes perfect sense!"

"Uh… Slippy?" Peppy was looking as confused as the rest of them. "Would you mind letting us in on your little epiphany?" The little toad rounded on them excitedly.

"She's it! She's Project Phoenix!"

"What?" Lucy looked from Slippy to Phoenix. "But – she's just a girl."

"She's not just a girl," said Slippy. "She's a _phoenix, _Luce! Don't you guys know what phoenixes are capable of?" When no one showed any signs of knowing, he persisted, "Telekinesis, pyrokinesis, telepathy, magnetic control, photon control, biological reformation… they're all common traits of the race!" He spun around to face Phoenix. "So… which one can you do?"

"Um…" said Phoenix, somewhat uncomfortably, "…all of them, actually. Plus cryokinesis – I can freeze things, basically – and aerokinesis, which means I can control particles of air. Oh, and I can make people see things. In their heads."

Slippy looked as though he might pass out. "You can do _all of them?" _Phoenix nodded. "Never in recorded history has there been a phoenix that can do everything!"

"I'd never even heard of phoenixes in recorded history, period," said Krystal. "I thought they were just a myth."

"We aren't," said Phoenix. "Obviously. I'm the last of my kind, but before my people were wiped out, there were seven of us."

"Am I to understand," said Wolf, "that you can light things on fire? Just like that?"

Phoenix shifted her focus to a piece of driftwood that had washed up on the beach. Instantly, it burst into flames.

"Well, well," said Peppy. "We've got ourselves a special young lady, don't we?" Phoenix smiled shyly.

"Are we sure she's a young lady at all?" said Fox. When Phoenix looked affronted, he quickly said, "No, no, that's not what I meant. I mean – Well, Lex O'Neill was working on Project Phoenix as an experiment. Did he create you?"

Phoenix laughed. "No," she said. "No, I was created the old fashioned way. He was on one of his excursions when he crash landed on my planet, Volumnia. That's when he met me and my family. He asked my parents' permission to do a couple of experiments to see why I could do the things I do."

"Volumnia," said Peppy. "That's not that little planet that was vaporized all those years ago, is it?"

"Yeah, it is," said Phoenix remorsefully. "Lex was there with is wife and kids when we heard what was headed our way. There was room enough for only a few on his ship – I went with my caretaker, Tomahawk. His family has been serving to protect mine for centuries. We were meant to take my twin brother Caius, too, but… We couldn't find him anywhere. It was too late to save him."

"Your whole family was killed?" said Fox. She nodded grimly. "By who?"

"Who else?"

"Andross," said Peppy bitterly. "I had no idea he was behind it."

"What did you do?" said Krystal.

"Tommy and I went back with the O'Neills. They were kind enough to offer us a place in their family. They adopted me as their own daughter, but kept me a secret. It was for my own good. Lex really is a father to me – when he adopted me, I was only a little kid. I can barely remember my birth family anymore. Lex taught me how to fly and fight. But, most importantly, he taught me how to harness my powers. Without him, I could have killed myself, or everyone else, for that matter. He means the world to me." Her eyes sparkled fondly.

Fox felt a sudden pang of sorrow. This girl was now orphaned twice. Twice, she'd had her family taken from her. And she didn't even know it yet. He exchanged a glance with Krystal. She seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"I circled the whole damn island, there's no sign of them." Panther was rounding a corner, back from an attempt to locate Tricky and Falco. "They must be somewhere in the f – Phoenix?!" He stopped short at the sight of her.

"Panther!" Phoenix ran to him immediately, eyes sparkling. "Oh my God! I can't believe it!"

"What are you doing here?" he asked, taking her hand.

"Give me a break," said Falco. "You know this one, too?"

"We dated," explained Phoenix. "I was sixteen, I ran away for a few months – it's a long story."

Falco snorted. "Figures."

"I haven't seen you since," said Panther. "Why'd you just disappear like that? What happened to you?"

Phoenix looked incredibly guilty. "I wish I could have contacted you, Panther, it's just… It's complicated. Pretty much everything I told you about myself was a lie. My last name isn't Robinson, it's O'Neill. I had to go home. I wasn't supposed to be away from my father's lab in the first place."

Panther's face fell. "You're Project Phoenix?"

"Yep." She grinned up at him. "Lex and Natalie O'Neill raised me. I've got all kinds of stuff I can do. Basically, I'm a walking Swiss Army Knife."

"Phoenix…" Panther's head hung. "Phoenix… I… God, I wish it wasn't you…"

She looked quizzically at his face. "What… what're you talking about? What's going on?" Panther looked up.

"Phoenix," he said quietly. "There's something I have to tell you… about your family."

"What?" Her voice was hushed, strained. "W-What about my family? Is everyone alright? Panther?!"

He shook his head woefully. "No, everyone's not alright. Phoenix…"

She was beginning to look slightly crazed. "Spit it out!" she cried. "Just spit it out already!!"

"Phoenix," said Panther, "you're family's been killed."

Phoenix stood there for a moment, staring. Just staring, as if she couldn't comprehend the words he'd spoken. No one dared breathe, move, or speak. "No," she said finally. "That's not true. No."

"Phoenix…" Panther began. She cut him off, eyes blazing.

"No!! My family is _fine!!"_

"No, they're not, honey."

Angry tears began to well up in her eyes. "Why are you saying this?" she said, and her voice was barely above a whisper. "Why do you keep contradicting me? My family is _fine, _Panther!!"

"I saw them," he said, his voice cracking slightly. "Wolf and I were sent into the house afterwards…" She turned on him.

"_Then you had something to do with it?!"_

"No!" he said quickly. "Jesus, no! We didn't have any part in it! It was Oikonny, Andrew Oikonny – he's Andross' nephew. He ordered Pigma and Leon to go into their house and kill them."

"No…"

"We recovered as much of their things as we could, but most of it was destroyed…"

"No, no, no…"

"…buried them in the backyard, under a tree…"

"No…"

"…I'm so, _so _sorry…"

But all she could do was shake her head and say "no" over and over again. She began to pace, talking to herself, tears pouring down over her cheeks. Everyone watched her, full of pity at the sight of her grief. After a few minutes of pacing, she stopped and stood, facing the sea. It seemed to the rest of them as though she'd finally come to terms with her family's death. But, just when they thought she was calm, her entire body began to shake violently. Suddenly, she dropped to her knees.

"_NO!!"_

As she screamed, she pounded the sand with her fist. The entire island began to shake, and a fierce wind whipped their faces. The air, which had been swelteringly hot seconds before, was suddenly close to freezing. And, before their horrified eyes, the sea was beginning to rise, a massive wall of water, and growing higher by the second. Fish and sharks appeared on dry land as the water line receded and receded.

"It's gonna crush us!" Slippy yelled over Phoenix's screams, mingled with the roaring of wind and sea. "She's gonna kill us all!"

"Phoenix!!" Maya screamed, hurtling toward her friend. Tricky called after her.

"Maya, _don't!!" _But Maya kept running, fighting the wind.

"Phoenix, you've got to calm down!!" She tried to stand at Phoenix's side, but before she could get anywhere near her friend, she was propelled backward, as if by some kind of force. All around Phoenix, the sand began to swirl, as if a miniature tornado had engulfed her.

Panther tried next to appease her. "Phoenix!!" His voice could barely be heard over the din. "Honey, listen to me! You've _got _to call it off!" She turned around to face him, wildly, and her eyes were no longer their usual amber. Instead, they were completely white, and overflowing with tears. The second she directed them toward Panther, he, too, was thrown backward.

"It's hopeless!" said Krystal in despair. "No one can get past her energy!"

"So, this is it?!" Amanda looked quite frantic. "She's just gonna crush us?!"

"No!" Falco struggled against the wind, which was growing stronger with every minute. "She's not!" With an extreme amount of effort, he pushed himself toward Phoenix's shrouded form.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Fox shouted after him. "You saw what happened to Maya and Panther – No one can get past her force field!!"

"I can!" Falco shouted back, over his shoulder. "Trust me!!" He continued to battle the wind, sand stinging his eyes as he trudged forward. A piece of shattered glass sliced the side of his face; hot blood poured over his cheek. A rock came hurling at his arm, propelled by the wind. With a sickening _crack, _his arm was broken into two pieces. He kept forcing himself to walk, despite the blinding pain.

Finally, he was able to reach her. "Phoenix!!" he bellowed, as she screamed. "Phoenix, _listen to me!!" _He made it easily to her side, kneeling down so they were at eye level. "If you don't stop this, the entire island will be destroyed!! If you don't stop, we're all gonna be killed!!" Phoenix didn't falter. She was acting now not of her own accord. The frenzied girl was consumed completely by her rage, her grief.

"Phoenix!!" Falco tried again, desperately. Another rock, this one much smaller, collided with the other side of his face. "Phoenix, look at me!!" he shouted, through a fresh wave of agonizing pain. She turned to face him, but made no attempt to calm the rapidly rising sea. "Phoenix, you've _got _to control yourself!! I understand what you're going through right now!! But try to remember how to restrain yourself!! Remember what your father taught you!!"

It was like he'd flipped a switch. Phoenix's expression of rage transformed instantly to one of shock, and then defeat. Her eyes slowly returned to their natural color; the wind ceased its tirade. The sand, which had been mostly airborne, settled back to the earth. And the sea, mercifully, came slowly down, splashing a little as it did, but otherwise safely, calmly.

Phoenix continued to stare into Falco's eyes. For a brief moment, she looked as though she was trying to say something to him. _Hold her, _said a sudden, unexplainable voice in his head. _Just reach out and touch her. _Without thinking, he made a move with his uninjured arm as if to touch hers – but it fell short as Panther ran to her side, pulling her to her feet.

It seemed then as if her trance had been completely broken. She stood, sobbing, in his arms, as everyone watched from a distance. "Oh, God," she said. "God, I could have killed you all. I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

"Shh…" He stroked the back of her head. "It wasn't you… Not really… You just got away from yourself for a minute, that's all."

"But I shouldn't have lost control like that! After all my dad taught me – If Falco hadn't come, I – Falco!" She broke away, turning back to where he was still crouching in the sand.

Falco managed a weak smile, but the moment he tried to stand, he was overcome by his excruciating pain, mixed with an inexplicable feeling of having all the energy sucked out of him. He stumbled, falling to his knees, feeling for a moment as though he would be very sick.

Phoenix rushed to kneel alongside him. "Oh, no," she choked, tears still streaming down her face. "Look at you…"

"I'm fine," he lied, his voice hoarse and strained. "Just a few bumps and bruises."

"No, you're not," Phoenix whimpered. "Your face is half covered in blood and half purple and swollen. You can't tell me you're fine." She reached out to touch his arm – the broken one. He winced as dizzying pain once again overwhelmed him. Phoenix drew back at once. "I broke your arm, didn't I?"

Falco sighed. "Phoenix… It was a rock. Don't worry about it," he said quietly.

"How can I not worry about it?" Her expression was full of anguish. "Look what I've done to you!! You're a complete mess!"

He smiled lopsidedly. "I've been worse," he assured her. "Really, I'm fine." She returned his smile. Watery though hers may have been, it still managed to be completely radiant. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. Once again, she'd made him forget completely about her arrogance, her rudeness, her attempts to kill him…

Fox soon joined the two of them. "Hey, man," he said, looking extremely distressed as he knelt next to them. "You okay?"

Falco grinned. "I've been better," he said. "But I've definitely been worse."

"I've gotta tell you," said Fox weakly. "You're the dumbest son of a bitch I know. But probably the bravest, too."

"Yeah, whatever. Let's just get off of this damn island, okay? Someone's bound to have noticed everything that just went on, and I don't wanna take any chances."

"Alright," said Fox. "Can you stand?"

"Yeah, yeah," said Falco, trying once again to stand and failing. He grumbled, begrudgingly. "No."

Fox helped him to his feet. "You're flying back with me," he insisted. "We'll have to figure out how to get your arwing back."

"I'll fly it," said Phoenix, wiping her eyes. "It's the least I can do for him."

"Good," said Fox. "Thanks, Phoenix."

As they slowly made their way to the scattered arwings, which had been tossed around by the wind, but otherwise unharmed, Fox said, "You really scared the hell out of us for awhile, you know that?"

"I told you I could make it through," said Falco. "And I'm alive, aren't I? For some reason, I'm the exception to her–"

"That's not what I meant."

Falco's stomach dropped. "Oh."

"Look," said Fox, "I'm not gonna ask you what happened to you when you were gone. I figure that's your load to get off your chest whenever you're ready to do it. All I'm saying is… Well, I'm here to listen when you want to talk."

Falco felt extremely grateful toward his friend. But he couldn't tell him. He just didn't have it in him to tell anyone. Instead, he forced a smile. "You haven't turned gay in the past three hours, have you? 'Cause I gotta tell you, I'm getting a little uncomfortable with your arm around my shoulder…"

Fox laughed, shaking his head. "I see you've returned to your normal, dick self."

"So it would seem."

"Well whatever. I liked you better as an arrogant, self-centered, reckless–"

"Okay, okay," Falco interjected. "You made your point."

"I'm just saying, man. It's good to have you back."

Falco smiled, genuinely this time. "Thanks. It's good to be back."


End file.
